Kelpie’s and Each-Uisge 🐴

2024-08-08

Within the unseelie court is the kelpie and each-uisge. These water-type fairies can switch between human or horse forms, and can use both forms to trick humans into becoming a meal.

There is a difference between each-uisge and kelpie, but they are often mixed up, even in folktales.

“This, the Highland water-horse(each-uisge), is perhaps the fiercest and most dangerous of all the water-horses, although the Cabyll Ushtey runs it close. It differs from the kelpie in haunting the sea and lochs, while the Kelpie belongs to running water.”

“A Encyclopedia of Fairies” by Katharine Briggs ( 1976)

They are mixed up so often, that most people no longer bother trying to seperate them.

While in human form, both the each-usige and the kelpie use their wits to to trick humans.

“By the Bridge of Luib, on the River Don, is a boulder known to the natives as the Kelpie’s Stane. It happened that a man summoned to the death-bed of a relative came to this crossing-place just after torrential floods had carried away the bridge. When he was on the point of abandoning all hope of reaching the opposite bank, a tall man appeared from nowhere, and volunteered to carry him across. The distracted home comer accepted the assistance proffered. But, when he and his carrier reached mid-river, the latter reverted to the form of the river kelpie, and endeavored to drag him down to the river’s bed. The victim managed to escape. As he scrambled to the bank, the infuriated kelpie hurled after him the huge boulder that to this day goes by the name of the Kelpie’s Stane.”

“The peat-fire flame : folk-tales and traditions of the Highlands & Islands” by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (1937)

They will sometimes take human brides, and though there are stories of an unwilling bride escaping after seeing something that gives the fairy away, there are also stories of brides going willingly.

While the kelpie and each-uisge are in horse form they are the most beautiful horse you have ever seen. Their coat may be the color of the waters they are from (such as white for clear waters, or black for murky waters), and they often have reeds or algae hidden in their mane that gives them away.

In most stories, they wait as a docile horse. People who see the horse assume it to be escaped from a farm, and perhaps they want to want to return it to their owners, or want to take the horse for themselves, or maybe they are just children wanting a fun ride. No matter the reason, when the people touch the horse, things go wrong. Their fur becomes like glue, trapping those on it’s back or touching its side.

The kelpie or each-uisge then runs into the waters they call home, and devour their prey.

There are stories of some people cutting off fingers to get free, but not all are that lucky.

 He touched the horse with his finger, and had to cut it off to save himself. The horse rushed into the lake, and the children, nine in number, were never more seen. The liver of one of them came ashore next day.

“Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland” By John Gregorson Campbell (1900)

Another important factor is the bridal. If you can get the bridal(or necklace when they are in human form), you control these fairies. In most stories, they are put to work on a farm since they are said to be stronger than three horses of their size, and never tire.

They are not willing workers, however, so if they get the bridal back, they may want revenge. This is usually enacted with a curse that eventually kills the entire family line of the thief.

They are not all bad, though. There are stories of people having harmless encounters with these water horses, and even stories where they willingly aid humans.

If a kelpie or each-uisge is killed, they turn into a jellyfish-like substance.

^{"Nøkken som hvit hest" by Theodor Kittelsen by Thomas Millie Dow}

Historic Kelpie Audio Recordings:

• (link) A woman saved her child from a kelpie by cutting off his finger; loch full of dangerous waterweed. 1969,
• (link) Lizzie Higgins saw a water kelpie in the River Dee one May Day. 1974
• (link) Well-washers, also known as water kelpies, are spirits who keep water clean; they can change into any form. 1976
• (link) A member of the Willock family mastered a kelpie and used it as a farm horse. 1969
• (link) A neugle was caught and used to plough at Tingwall. 1960
• (link) Water horses that haunted the Eshaness area. 1960
• (link) A Traveller who was pearl-fishing was nearly caught by a kelpie. 1981

Each Usige Audio Recordings:

• (link) Story about a water-horse. 1965
• (link) A man cooking meat in a hut beside Loch na Mnà enticed a water horse out of the loch. 1958
• (link) The water-horse that killed a girl. 1957
• (link) A story about a water-horse. 1953
• (link) The water-horse. 1974
• (link) Old woman approached by water horse. 1958
• (link) A loch in Colonsay, Loch Fada, used to have a water-horse which met girls in the form of a young man 1953
• (link) Gaelic. Very often, fairy knolls were found in close proximity to lochs. Occasionally, water-horses would come ashore from these. On one such occasion, a girl was sitting by a loch when she was approached by a beautiful man who lay his head in her apron. She noticed sand in his hair and, realising he was a water- horse, removed her apron as he slept, and ran away. He chased her in form of a water-horse, but she protected herself with a charm. (1972)
• (link) Gaelic. Two girls were staying in a sheiling in Skye. An old woman came and asked if she could stay the night. She slept in between the girls. One woke up during the night and felt that the bedclothes were covered in blood. She went to the door and saw a water-horse. The other girl was dead. (1957)
• (link) Gaelic. This song, which was used as a cradle song, was said to have been a lament composed by a water-horse whose mortal lover had gone, taking their child with her. He is pleading with her to return. (1956)